经济学人:空气污染来袭 如何保护我们的肺(上)

 　　Science and technology: Air-pollution: Breathtaking 科学与技术：空气污染：屏气吞声

　　Air-quality indices make pollution seem less bad than it is. 空气质量指数粉饰了空气污染情况。

　　Smoking a whole packet of cigarettes in a day once or twice a year would certainly make someone feel ill, but probably would not kill him. 一天抽完一整包烟，一年这么抽个一两天，必然会让人感觉不适，但也许还不足以致命。

　　Smoking even one cigarette every day for decades, though, might do so. 但如果每天抽一支，数十年如一日下去，就可能会让你丧命了。

　　That is the difference between acute and chronic¹ exposure, and it is a difference most people understand. 这就是急性暴露和慢性暴露的区别，大多数人都能理解这两者的不同之处。

　　What they may not understand is that the same thing applies to air pollution. 但是同样的情况放到空气污染上，他们可能就没弄明白了。

　　On a day-to-day basis, the forecasts most cities offer turn red only when pollution levels rise to a point where they will cause immediate² discomfort³. 大多数城市的每日天气预报里，只有当空气污染达到能让人当即感到不适的程度时，才会出现红色的警示。

　　That makes sense, for it lets people such as asthmatics take appropriate action. 这些警示有一定的作用，可以供如哮喘病一类的患者因时制宜。

　　But it might also lead the unwary to assume, if most days in the place he inhabits are green, that the air he is breathing is basically safe. 但也会让没有戒备心的人误以为，既然当地绝大多数时候空气质量状况指标为绿色，那么他们呼吸的空气基本上就是安全无害的。

　　This may well not be the case. 但事实很可能并非如此。

　　In London, for example, a study published last year by researchers at King’s College suggested air pollution shortens the city’s inhabitants’ lives by nine to 16 months. 比如在伦敦，国王学院的研究人员去年发表的一项研究称，空气污染会使伦敦居民的寿命减少9至16个月。

　　To investigate the matter, The Economist⁵ crunched⁶ a year’s worth of data collected from May 2015 onwards in 15 big cities. 为了探明究竟，《经济学人》杂志用电脑处理了来自15个大城市于2015年5月开始收集、为期一年的数据量。

　　They were gathered by Plume⁷ Labs, a firm based in Paris, which uses them to produce a commercial air-quality app. 这些数据由巴黎的Plume Lab公司收集，并用于制作一款商业化的空气质量应用软件。

　　The three pollutants⁸ of most concern in rich countries are nitrogen dioxide (NO2, a brownish gas emitted by car exhausts, and particularly by diesels) ,  在富裕国家，最引人担忧的三种污染物分别是二氧化氮 (NO2，汽车——特别是柴油汽车尾气中的一种棕色气体) 、

　　ozone⁹ (a triatomic form of oxygen that irritates lungs) and soot-particles smaller than 2.5 microns across (which makes them tiny enough to get deep into the lungs) . 臭氧 (分子由三个氧原子构成，对肺部有危害) 以及截面直径小于2.5微米的烟尘颗粒 (体积微小，可以深入肺部)。

　　These pollutants can cause a variety of medical difficulties, including asthma⁴, heart disease, lung cancer and stunted¹⁰ lung growth in children. 这些污染物会造成一系列的医疗难题，包括哮喘、心脏病、肺癌和儿童肺部的发育不良。

　　Levels of NO2 in London and Paris are routinely higher than World Health Organisation¹¹ (WHO) guidelines about what constitutes a long-term hazard,  伦敦和巴黎的二氧化氮含量通常高于世界卫生组织 (WHO) 的参考值，二氧化碳浓度长期高于这一参考值就会对人体造成伤害，

　　known as the annual average limit—and that goes, too, for particulate¹² matter. 这个参考值即年平均浓度限值——这一标准同样适用于细微颗粒物。

　　In London, during daytime, the concentration of NO2 exceeded the WHO’s limit by 41%, on average, over the 12 months examined. 根据这一年的数据记录，伦敦白天的二氧化氮浓度平均要超出世界卫生组织限值的41%.

　　In Paris, where the national index said air quality was “good” or “very good” four days out of five,  在巴黎，国家空气指数显示，每五天之中有四天的空气质量都是 “良好” 或者 “优质”，

　　our analysis found that at least one of the three main pollutants exceeded the WHO’s limit at some point almost every day. 但是我们的分析结果表明，全天之内三种污染物无一超标的天数屈指可数。

1 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

2 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

3 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

4 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 crunched   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头，使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命

7 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

8 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 ozone   

n.臭氧，新鲜空气

参考例句：

• The ozone layer is a protective layer around the planet Earth.臭氧层是地球的保护层。
• The capacity of ozone can adjust according of requirement.臭氧的产量可根据需要或调节。

10 stunted   

adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的

参考例句：

• the stunted lives of children deprived of education 未受教育的孩子所过的局限生活
• But the landed oligarchy had stunted the country's democratic development for generations. 但是好几代以来土地寡头的统治阻碍了这个国家民主的发展。

11 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

12 particulate   

adj.微小的；n.微粒，粒子

参考例句：

• A special group was organized to dig up the particulate of the case.成立了一个专门小组来查明该案件的各个细节。
• Lungs retain relatively insoluble particulate material.肺脏内留有不溶解的颗粒物质。